Belonging
by AlsoA
Summary: It took three days for Will to decide to follow Merlin to Camelot... Will/Merlin implied, Arthur/Merlin preslash, Will/Valiant actual pairing. No really. Complete.


BELONGING

It took three days for Will to decide to follow Merlin to Camelot, then a further three weeks before he actually set off because he didn't want to look too eager. That wasn't the way they worked. Will led, Merlin followed and together they both sprinted their way out of trouble.

There were also the small problems of needing money for the trip and Merlin's mother's refusal to divulge exactly where her son was staying. He got around the first by stealing from Old Man Simmons, telling himself it was a loan and that the old git deserved it anyway.

The second was more difficult. Will had a name, Gaius, but that was it. Just because Hunith had never approved of him. Yeah, and her no better than a...a... At least Will's parents had been married, decent like, in a church and everything. No one had even heard a whisper about Merlin's father. Incredibly, Merlin didn't seem to care, but Will cared for him. He'd broken the nose of the first kid to call Merlin a bastard and carried on doing so until there was no one left to fight. Merlin had just shrugged.

Now it was almost too much, Hunith looking at Will as if it was _his_ fault that Merlin had had to leave Ealdor. As if _he _couldn't be trusted not to tell about Merlin's magic.

"Leave him go, Will, he's got a new life now." She half-smiled, slow and patient as if he was still a boy to be brushed aside.

He snapped back, "Maybe he wants me to be part of that new life."

_Or maybe not. _

Hunith didn't say it, he'd give her that, but Will knew that she thought it. Merlin could've asked him. Will had said nothing, too proud to go first, just waited and waited for an invitation that never came.

"You've never liked me," he said, sulky.

"Not so," she replied. "It's just that things are different now. I miss him too." A tray of cakes cooled on the wooden table between them. Hunith reached out and popped one in his hand. Will took it, resenting her all the more as the sweet, warm pastry crumbled between his lips.

Two days into the trip he heard about the tournament. At the time it seemed like luck. Travellers of all sorts were heading into Camelot and Will fell into the company of one Knight Valiant. He was surly man who didn't waste time on conversation but that suited Will.

Valiant wanted mice and other small mammals caught alive. Will opened his mouth to ask why and shut it again at the look on his benefactor's face. What did he care? The hunting was easy enough and Valiant paid up when he said he would.

Later, in the half-light of candle, the knight slipped one large hand around the back of Will's neck. In the shadows his eyes looked almost black.

"Care to earn more money?"

The very casualness of the question was what swung it. Will didn't think he could pretend any sort of warmth for Valiant but a purely physical exchange was something different. He nodded.

Valiant was rough, without being cruel, using Will like any other animal brought under his control with a task to perform. Will, nursing a bruised mouth and aching loins, counted thrusts and waited for it to be over. He brought himself off, not because he cared to, but because Valiant seemed to expect it as part of a job well done. Afterwards, Valiant pulled his covers up and slept immediately. Will lay down on the ground under a rug, legs sticky with spunk, and tried to sleep. It was raining outside. Inside the tent he could hear the mice scratching in their metal box trying to bite their way to freedom.

He woke early and crept out to wash in a nearby stream. Valiant was gone by the time he returned along with the promised additional coinage. Will tried not to mind. He would reach Camelot by mid-day. Then there would be Merlin and no time for self-recriminations. He wasn't good at them anyway preferring to turn his anger outwards.

Finding Gaius took some hours. What had seemed an easy task in Ealdor proved much more difficult in a city the size of Camelot. Eventually he found his way to the smithy and from there was directed to the physician's lodgings. He hesitated before entering. It was so much grander than anything he had been expecting. He knocked and an old man answered the door.

"What is it? Is somebody ill?"

"Gaius?"

Casual affirmative.

"I'm looking for Merlin," he made himself speak confidently.

"And you would be?"

"Will. Will from Ealdor."

Gaius eyed him more carefully now, as if considering his response, before shrugging apologetically. "I'm sorry, but Merlin's not here. He left my service weeks ago."

Will wanted to ask if he could sit down and have some water and perhaps something to eat, but Gaius, while friendly enough, was not inviting. He forced a smile. "I told him Camelot was a stupid place to go. Everyone knows about the King's, about…" He paused, suddenly unsure how much it was safe to say, and then rallied. "It's nothing, really. I was just visiting and thought I'd stop by."

"I'm sorry," repeated Gaius, dismissing him.

"It doesn't matter," said Will, already turning away.

He didn't bother staying for the tournament. There didn't seem much point. Not once he'd seen what Valiant was doing with the rodents. He didn't feel any responsibility for the man or his actions but neither did he wish to stay and watch while Valiant cheated and won.

Soon, he told himself, Merlin would return to Ealdor full of apologies and ready to listen to Will and follow his ideas again. Will might mention that he had gone to Camelot find Merlin but more likely he would not. He would wait and eventually Merlin would come home. Back where he belonged.

**

"_Merlin!" _

_Merlin looked up, irritated. "What?"_

"_What sire?" corrected Arthur, then immediately spoilt the effect by adding, "Is there something more than usually interesting happening at the gates? Some sort of armed insurrection taking place? Some magical monster about to strike? Some sorcerous--"_

_Merlin grinned and spun away from the window. "Nothing like that. I thought I saw someone I knew but I must have been mistaken."_

"_A not infrequent occurrence," said Arthur. He gestured to the table. "My armour needs polishing. Any time today will do."_

"_No hurry then," said Merlin, but already he was moving to obey._


End file.
